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Global Terrorism Index, 2014

According to the 2014 Global Terrorism Index, by the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), a non-profit research organization based in Sydney, Australia, the number of deaths caused by terrorism increased by 61 percent between 2012 and 2013. There were nearly 10,000 terrorist attacks in 2013, a 44 percent increase on the previous year.

The Index defines terrorism as “the threatened or actual use of illegal force and violence by a non-state actor to attain a political, economic, religious or social goal through fear, coercion, or intimidation”.

“Not only is the intensity of terrorism increasing, its breadth is increasing as well,” the report said.

According to the report, the three main factors behind with terrorism were State sponsored violence, such as extra-judicial killings, “group grievances” and high levels of crime. Levels of school attendance, poverty rates, and most economic factors, however, had no association with terrorism.

The wealthy countries that make up the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) suffered a slim minority of terrorism fatalities. Turkey had 34 attacks and 57 deaths in 2013, the highest of any OECD country, while the United States had nine attacks and six deaths. The United Kingdom had a high number of attacks (131), but most of these were small-scale attacks in Northern Ireland and left only three dead. Israel had 28 attacks in 2013 that left two people dead (the Palestinian territories are not included in the index).

The report also found that 80 percent of all the terrorist organizations that have ceased to operate since the 1960s did so probably because of policing or politicisation efforts. Just 10 percent of the groups could be said to have achieved their aims—and around 7 percent were eliminated by military engagement.